In Africa we gather simply under the shade of mango trees, in courtyards of the people. All that we do in church here, is done there. But it just looks, feels, and is done differently. No fuss!
Ministry was more about conversation with people over Jesus, than spinning the plates of complicated, extremely time demanding, programs. Oh, there is some structure, there has to be. However, here it's very different. Why is it viewed so negatively when we try to do something more simplified here in the west? The criticism is from within the ranks too, not the world.
It concerns me deeply for this reaction will mean some will draw lines in the sand, when it need not be so. Let's give these young guys some freedom to serve with new expressions. Can we give permission, better yet, not make these courageous pioneers feel like they need to get permission, before they run in service?
Here's what people on this missional journey are experiencing.
"We’ve become disturbingly aware through personal experience and observation that those who advocate such a thoroughgoing recalibration of the church will not always be met with open arms by the prevailing church leadership. And yet we feel compelled to lovingly challenge the church to dismantle many of the arcane institutional structures it is now beholden to and to bravely face the future with imagination and courage." (The Shape Of Things To Come. Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003. pg ix)I have to say I've been feeling it too. The more I introduce and live these ideas of missional ministry and simple gatherings of believers, the more alone I have become. Not many ministry colleagues will even spark a conversation any more. It's a "Hi" with a walk on by. It's hard. I truly respect men who lead churches in a paid position. I did it for many years, Doing so now for free, so I know they have a hard job, and a valuable one too. But I can't serve that way myself. Accepting the paycheck, in most churches, would mean I have to cow-tow to a few expected approaches to ministry that I can't accept as I feel they are not effective. It's not for me, it kills me. If I had to do that full-time, I would be one of those people who boost the burnout, dropout, leadership statistics .
I know to the depth of my being, that what I am walking is not biblically unsound, it's just not the norm is all.
Anyway, the last 4 years have been the most exciting, interesting, but yet - lonely, years of my life. I desperately need a co-worker in crime (Will you pray about that for me). But I can't turn back from this path I'm walking on, just to gain that. It will kill my journey, my calling, and the vision of which I am following. It would kill the serving me. Can I have permission?
I'm ready to go back to Africa and work at more church planting, I think. Oh I've been ready a long time, but I think it might be Gods plan to live out this simple church planting mission there, as opposed to here, for here I'm just not doing so well with my peers. Planting a new simple, low-budget, self supported church here, has unfortunately put me in the cross hairs, and I don't know why!
All I'm doing is the very same thing I live, breath, and do to plant churches in rural Africa.
"We've become increasingly convinced that what the church needs to find it's way out of the situation it's in at the beginning of the twenty-first century is not more faddish theories about how to grow the church without fundamentally reforming its structures. " (The Shape Of Things To Come. Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch. Hendrickson, 2003. pg 6)
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